Endosonographers use Endoscopic Ultrasound Fine Needle Aspiration (EUS FNA) for diagnosis and staging of disease. EUS FNA is a highly effective diagnostic procedure. An ultrasound image generated by EUS FNA allows a physician to visualize the position of a needle in relation to a target and surrounding tissue structures. This aids in ensuring that the correct tissue is sampled and that the risk to the patient is minimized.
However, therapeutic tools and procedures for endosonographers are less well established. Current industry trends and research are focusing on development of devices that would enable endosonographers to treat specific conditions once diagnosis has been established.
One area currently being explored for EUS guided therapy is the placement of fiducials. Fiducials act as markers so diseased tissue can be targeted for more effective delivery of radiation or other treatments. Currently, the fiducial placement is a very time consuming procedure for the endosonographers. It generally requires the physician to load and place the markers one at a time.